ServiceNow Backup and Recovery
Discover how to use Snapshot to secure your ServiceNow data.
When evaluating backup solutions for ServiceNow, the challenge isn't just backing up data—it's ensuring that backups happen quickly, and without disrupting operations or ServiceNow's performance.
That's exactly what Perspectium's DataSync Snapshot delivers.
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Contents:
What is Snapshot?
Snapshot is a high-performance backup and recovery solution built specifically for ServiceNow.
Powered by Perspectium’s high-throughput replication architecture, Snapshot can replicate over 40 million records daily—without impacting platform performance.
More than just a backup tool, Snapshot delivers flexible, enterprise-grade data protection at the speed and scale of ServiceNow.
Key Benefits of ServiceNow Backup and Recovery with Snapshot
Snapshot's key benefits include:
- Minimal disruption with fast restoration, and no instance downtime.
- Fast backup creation thanks to Perspectium’s high-throughput architecture, purpose-built for ServiceNow
- Unlimited on-demand and scheduled backups: Automate regular backups or create them instantly before major system changes, giving you complete control over data protection.
- Granular data recovery: Restore entire tables, specific records, or even individual fields, ensuring you recover exactly what you need—nothing more, nothing less.
- Compliance and audit readiness: Maintain detailed backup records to meet regulatory requirements and simplify internal audits.
- Upgrade, test, and deploy with peace of mind: Safely implement updates, configurations, and enhancements with confidence, by creating backups before critical changes, minimizing risk and downtime.
- Seamless ServiceNow integration: Operate directly within the ServiceNow environment, avoiding the need for external tools or complex configurations.
- Optimized ServiceNow performance with non-disruptive, high-throughput replication.
- Greater flexibility to test changes in a sandbox and quickly revert if needed.
Snapshot: Features and Capabilities
Perspectium’s ServiceNow backup solution overcomes the limitations of ServiceNow’s out-of-the-box backup capabilities, by providing advanced features and greater flexibility.
Speed Up Backup and Recovery
ServiceNow users often experience performance issues with third-party backup solutions and slow recovery times with the platform’s native backups. Perspectium eliminates these trade-offs with a performance-optimized approach to backup and recovery.
Snapshot provides:
High-throughput Replication, Without Affecting Performance
Many third-party backup vendors rely on web services/API calls, which strain ServiceNow’s resources. To reduce this impact, they often recommend workarounds like scheduling backups outside of business hours. This limits flexibility and increases risk.
Perspectium uses high-throughput, API-free data replication to move massive volumes of data out of ServiceNow—without disrupting performance.
Seamlessly integrated into ServiceNow’s architecture, Snapshot is able to use push technology to support rapid, reliable backup creation. With the ability to replicate over 40 million records per day, Perspectium ensures continuous data protection and faster recovery without degrading system performance.
- Avoids API strain by using push-based replication
- Seamlessly integrates with ServiceNow’s architecture
- Replicates over 40 million records per day without system slowdowns
- Enables fast, reliable backups to meet RPO and RTO goals
- Supports continuous protection without impact to performance
Restore Without Downtime
ServiceNow’s backup and recovery process requires taking the instance offline, restricting access and creating unnecessary operational disruption.
With Snapshot, users can initiate and complete recovery with zero instance downtime, enabling faster recovery and minimal disruption to operations.
With Snapshot, data can be restored instantly—without taking ServiceNow offline.
- Complete data recovery without impacting users
- Maintain productivity while restoring large datasets
- Restore seamlessly in the background without slowing ServiceNow
- Eliminate delays caused by instance shutdowns
Restore Quickly, On Your Own Terms
According to ServiceNow documentation, a restore takes at least as long as a full instance clone. Also, restoring from a ServiceNow backup requires opening a case via the Now Support Portal, adding delays to an already time-consuming process.
With Snapshot, users can initiate recovery on their own terms, minimizing downtime and disruption.
With self-service recovery on demand, users can:
- Restore exactly when required—no support tickets required
- Restore only what is required to speed up the process and resume operations as quickly as possible.
- Reduce delays and avoid manual intervention
- Recover from mistakes or issues in minutes
- Minimize downtime and get back to work faster
Your backup and recovery process should be fast, efficient, and uninterrupted.
With Perspectium Snapshot, you can quickly create and restore from backups of critical data, without slowing down your system. See how Snapshot simplifies your backup and recovery process in real time by booking a demo today.
Create and Retain Unlimited Backups
ServiceNow’s native backup capabilities are limited by short retention windows and an inability to control when backups occur. Full backups are created just once per week, at an unfixed, system-determined time—offering no control over when or how often backups run. Users cannot see the backup schedule ahead of time, limiting an organization’s ability to plan ahead.
Additionally, these backups are automatically deleted after a short period, creating compliance and data protection challenges for organizations that need longer-term retention.
Perspectium Snapshot eliminates these constraints by giving you full control over when backups occur, how often they’re created, and how long they’re kept—ensuring your data is always protected, accessible, and compliant.
Snapshot allows users to:
Automate ServiceNow Backups
Predefine your backup schedules and let Snapshot handle everything automatically. No manual triggers. No missed backups. No added burden on your admins.
- Set daily, weekly, monthly, or fully custom schedules.
- Choose specific times to avoid peak usage, or to align with planned updates.
- Create multiple schedules for different data types.
- Easy setup and configuration from inside the ServiceNow UI.
Trigger Backups Instantly
Don't just rely on automated schedules. With Snapshot, you can create backups whenever you need.
- Start an on-demand backup with just a few clicks.
- Protect critical data before upgrades, patches, or major changes.
- Capture a live snapshot of your environment without disrupting users.
Retain Backups as Long as Required
Whether it’s for compliance, audits, or simply peace of mind, Snapshot puts you in full control. Unlike other solutions that force expiration dates —including ServiceNow— you decide how long to retain your backups, so you always meet your business and compliance needs.
- No forced expiration—keep backups indefinitely.
- Meet compliance needs like HIPAA, GDPR, and SOX.
- Securely store backups off-instance to avoid bloating ServiceNow storage.
- Use backups to train AI models.
Granular, Targeted Recovery
When restoring from ServiceNow-made backups, users face a rigid, all-or-nothing process. These platform-created backups offer no granular control, meaning you can only restore an entire instance—not specific records, tables, or configurations—to the production instance the backup originated from.
This limitation has real consequences. Restoring the whole instance:
- Extends downtime, as ServiceNow must be taken offline during the process.
- Risks data loss, with newer data potentially overwritten by outdated records.
- Disrupts operations, breaking workflows and requiring teams to manually reapply recent changes.
In high-stakes environments, this lack of flexibility can be costly.
With Snapshot, users can:
Restore Only What You Need—or Everything
Perspectium DataSync Snapshot overcomes ServiceNow's lack of granularity in backup and recovery, by giving you complete control over backup creation and restoration. With DataSync Snapshot, you can:
- Select what to back up and what to restore for complete control.
- Recover what you need more quickly, without impacting the rest of your system.
- Back up attachments and complete objects, including forms, properties, lists, schemas & more.
- Restore specific fields or configurations without undoing other changes.
- Protect recent updates by restoring only what's necessary.
Restore with Metadata & Attachments Intact
Standard recovery tools often miss attached files, images, or custom settings, leading to broken workflows and data inconsistencies. Perspectium Snapshot ensures that everything—including attachments and metadata—can be recovered. For instance:
- Documents, images, and files originally attached to records can be fully recovered.
- System settings, scripts, and workflows are restored exactly as they were, keeping everything running smoothly.
- All related records stay connected, maintaining data integrity.
Choose Your Recovery Target
Snapshot lets users control where data is restored to, such as a sub-production instance. Whether you need to recover data to a testing environment, a development instance, or a completely different production system, you have the flexibility to choose the destination.
- Choose where data is restored to, such as another ServiceNow instance.
- Restore entire applications to another instance without losing data or breaking configurations.
- Maintain system integrity by restoring to a controlled environment first.
- Test updates or configurations before applying them to production.
- Support parallel workflows by recovering data where it's most needed.
How DataSync Snapshot Ensures Targeted Recovery:
| Use Case | DataSync Snapshot Targeted Recovery |
|---|---|
| A support team accidentally deletes a critical customer service case along with its attachments, comments, and task assignments. | The company can selectively restore only the deleted case and its related data, keeping the rest of the system intact. |
| An IT admin updates business rules or scripts, but the changes cause unexpected failures in workflows. | The IT team can restore only the affected scripts and business rules, fixing the issue without undoing unrelated changes. |
| A financial company must maintain specific transaction logs and approval records for compliance but accidentally loses some data. | The company can recover only the records required for compliance. |
| A company is moving data from a testing environment to a production instance and only needs specific applications or configurations. | The company can seamlessly restore only the necessary applications, forms, and workflows without unnecessary data. |
Fast, Flexible Recovery Options
Whether it’s a single record, an entire table, or a full application, you have the flexibility to recover precisely what’s necessary, exactly when it’s needed.
- Recover specific records, tables, or full applications.
- Restore to production, development, or testing environments.
- Minimize recovery time and keep operations running smoothly.
See How Snapshot Simplifies ServiceNow Backup & Recovery
Experience full backup control without technical complexity. Perspectium Snapshot transforms your backup and recovery process by combining automated scheduling, on-demand backup capabilities, and instant recovery—all while maintaining optimal ServiceNow performance.
What you'll get in a demo:
- Watch how Snapshot creates fast, reliable backups of records, metadata, and attachments—and recovers them quickly when needed.
- See how it ensures data integrity, keeping relationships intact while preventing overwrites during both backup and recovery.
- Experience the simplicity of setting custom backup schedules and triggering on-demand backups.
- See how targeted recovery works for specific use cases in your environment.
- Get expert guidance on how Snapshot can streamline your backup and recovery strategy for compliance, selective data protection, and other requirements.
- Discover how Snapshot handles backup and recovery without disrupting your operations.
Book your demo today and experience how Perspectium Snapshot can transform your backup and recovery process.
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